As the two nations work to strengthen their relations in the face of mounting regional pressure from China, high-level defense and security discussions between Japan and the Philippines are scheduled to take place next month, the foreign department announced on Friday.
At the July 8 Manila meeting, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara of Japan will talk about “bilateral and defense and security issues affecting the region,” according to a department statement.
The negotiations come amid growing disputes between Chinese and Philippine vessels at sea as Beijing intensifies its attempts to assert its rights over almost the whole South China Sea.
Beijing and Tokyo are at odds over islands in the East China Sea that are contested and under Japanese administration.
Japan, which occupied the Philippines during World War II, is currently in talks with Manila to establish a defense agreement that would permit the two nations to place soldiers on one another’s soil.
Tokyo is also assisting Manila in reaffirming its sovereignty over the South China Sea by modernizing the Philippine Coast Guard’s fleet.
In April, Tokyo’s Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted combined air and naval exercises in the key waterway with the US, Australia, and the Philippines.
The drills aimed to demonstrate what they said was their “collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
